Chapter 43: Xiaozhu’s Needle Skills
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Not long afterwards, he came to Donghai City. He buried his past and changed his name, wanting to live a life as an ordinary person.

Shaking off his thoughts of reminiscence, Ling Chen sucked in a deep breath, banishing all his wild thoughts to the back of his mind.

There was no need to talk about past matters. Since he had chosen to leave, then he should decisively bid goodbye to his previous life.

As he located where Zhong Wei parked the car, he got in and said, “Let’s go.”

“Do you want to follow me to the hospital?”

“Sure.”

Liang Zhaohui and the other squad members were all recuperating at the hospital. They were at the very least still squad members, so he should visit them.

After twenty minutes, the Land Rover stopped outside the City Public Hospital.

Ling Chen bought some fruits at a roadside stall before he entered. It wasn’t good to visit someone empty-handed, right?

The Nanrong family were very generous in their treatment of these injured squad members. Every one of them had a private hospital room and even a personal nurse attending to them. When Ling Chen and Zhong Wei arrived, the squad members were all watching a show on TV, laughing and chatting excitedly.

“Captain Zhong.”

“Captain Zhong…”

Seeing Zhong Wei entering, the squad members all called out various greetings.

However, the moment Ling Chen appeared behind Zhong Wei, the faces of the squad members froze and twitched uncomfortably, especially that of Liang Zhaohui.

He had initially looked down on Ling Chen, thinking him to be an amateur, constantly ridiculing him. But in the end, Liang Zhaohui was the one who suffered a significant loss. Had they listened to Ling Chen’s advice back then, perhaps they would not have landed in such a predicament, with one of their squad members losing his life.

Ling Chen noticed everyone’s discomfort and knew they still had a knot in their hearts regarding his existence. Thus, he cleared his throat and took the initiative to call out a greeting.

“Brothers, I’m sorry for not visiting earlier. I have been preoccupied for the last two days and could only come down now to visit everyone.”

“Old Bro Ling, you’re being too polite.”

“It’s already great that you came to visit us. You even bought so much stuff over.”

The moment Ling Chen spoke, the others picked up on his cue and carried on the conversation. They were all grown adults and even came from military backgrounds. Their personalities were quite straight-forward and they did not beat around the bush.

A while later, everyone started getting more boisterous.

“Big Bro Liang, are your injuries alright?”

Liang Zhaohui forced out a smile. “The doctor said there shouldn’t be too big an issue.”

Ling Chen had already taken the initiative to engage in conversation, which was showing Liang Zhaohui some respect and Liang Zhaohui was not a tactless person.

“Ling Chen, regarding the matter last time… I…”

“Let’s not mention things of the past. Big Bro Liang, just focus on recovering and strive to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. Captain Zhong and I are really busy ensuring Chairwoman’s safety, we could really use your and the squad’s help.”

“I will.”

Liang Zhaohui looked at him with thankful eyes. He did not know how to broach the topic of apology, but with Ling Chen’s words his predicament was solved.

After the squad members conversed happily for a while, a flurry of rapid footsteps rang out from outside the hospital.

“The patient is acting up again! Hurry up and bring Miss Zhu over!”

The moment the words “Miss Zhu” entered his ears, Ling Chen turned to look at the door. For some reason, he heard “Miss Zhu”, the first person that sprang to his mind was the gentle and willowy woman, Zhu Xiaozhu.

The last time he was at Qingyun Dojo, Ye Liangyong seemed to have mentioned that Zhu Xiaozhu was a doctor.

Could it be her?

Thinking of this point, he immediately stood up. “Captain Zhong, please continue chatting with the rest. I’ll scout the situation outside.”

Walking to the hallway, he only saw a few white coats rushing to the adjacent hospital room in a flurry, with the miserable wailing of a patient transmitting over.

Ling Chen strode outside the hospital room and peered through the glass window. Immediately, a slender and exquisitely beautiful silhouette entered his vision.

It indeed is her!

At that moment, lying on the hospital bed was a man in his forties. He was thrashing about violently, exerting a bestial strength. The few nurses there could not even hold him down, and one of the doctors was even knocked onto the ground.

Zhu Xiaozhu wanted to examine his condition, but the wild struggles of the patient left her helpless to do anything.

“Let me help you.”

Hearing the voice waft over, Zhu Xiaozhu turned her head, to see Ling Chen walking into the room.

“Mr Ling?”

Her memory was quite decent, she was able to recognise Ling Chen in a glance.

Ling Chen grabbed onto the patient’s wrist with one hand and pinned them against the head of the bed, while his other hand pushed down on the man’s body, rendering him immobile.

“Miss Zhu, it’s your turn now.”

Zhu Xiaozhu immediately let out a sound of agreement and briskly walked over, checking the patient’s pulse.

The distance between the two was quite close, and a fragrant scent tickled his nose. The smell of perfume mixed with her own natural aroma left him feeling slightly dizzy.

Noticing Zhu Xiaozhu measuring the patient’s pulse, Ling Chen’s heart twitched. He could not help asking, “Miss Zhu is a practitioner of ancient Chinese medicine?”

Hearing his words, a trace of curiosity formed in Zhu Xiaozhu’s eyes.

“You know about ancient Chinese medicine?”

“I know a thing or two.”

The book of legacy he had inherited did not only contain knowledge about martial arts techniques. It was rather diverse and even contained records about healing and divinatory arts. It was the cumulation of the essence of the ancient’s knowledge

The so-called ancient Chinese medicine originated from the ancients and was profound and all-encompassing. It was the essence of traditional Chinese medicine but had been almost lost in the modern world. Even if it still existed, there would at most be only one lineage left. This was because ancient Chinese medicine was obscure and difficult to understand; very few people could learn it.

Zhu Xiaozhu being able to master ancient Chinese medicine at such a tender age was genuinely extraordinary. No wonder Ye Liangyong compared Zhu Xiaozhu and Nanrong Wanqing side by side. Indeed, both of them were rarely seen women, who boasted terrific abilities.

“His condition is critical, and we need to operate on him immediately. Mr Ling, can I trouble you to remove his clothes?”

Ling Chen nodded his head and quickly stripped the patient’s clothes. He then flipped the patient over, such that the patient was facing downwards and his back facing the ceiling.

“The rest of you can leave now.”

“Yes, Miss Zhu.”

The other doctors did not dare to dally. They knew that when Zhu Xiaozhu was doing acupressure, she hated to be disturbed by others. Thus, they hurriedly left the room with the other nurses, leaving only Zhu Xiaozhu and Ling Chen behind.

After seeing that the patient was ready for treatment, Zhu Xiaozhu took out a box of needles and placed it beside the pillow. She retrieved a sharp and thin steel needle from within. Without her asking, Ling Chen directly brought a bottle of alcohol in front of her.

Zhu Xiaozhu looked at him with a gaze of admiration. After disinfecting the needle, she took a glance at the patient’s position. Her eyes sharpened in concentration and her pale wrist shook a little. In the next instant, one could see the needle already inserted into the patient’s body.

Looking at her blindingly fast actions, Ling Chen’s face could not help revealing a hint of shock.

When the needle descended on the patient’s body, there was actually zero deviation or trembling. To achieve this, the person applying acupuncture must have practised using internal energy.

He really would not have thought that such a gentle woman like her would actually be well-versed in using internal energy. It seemed like her background was rather profound.

Hegu, Quchi, Waiguan. In the blink of an eye, three needles shot out of her hand to three acupressure points.

Sanyinjiao, Yanglingquan, Zusanli. Three more acupressure needles were inserted.

After deploying six successive needles, Zhu Xiaozhu’s forehead had beads of sweat rolling down.

Ordinary traditional Chinese medicine practitioners used acupuncture, with their focus being on needlework. However, Zhu Xiaozhu’s acupuncture focused on combining internal energy with the use of needles. The complementary effect of using the two together achieved the most optimal result. Every needle had vigorous internal energy behind it and conferred the benefit of stimulating the body’s natural recovery.

The main drawback was that this kind of needlework was extremely draining on the practitioner. Zhu Xiaozhu had only inserted six needles, but her face was pale and drenched in sweat. Clearly, her body was at its limits.

Ling Chen could not bear to see her suffering any longer, and a resolute glint flashed through his eyes. “Miss Zhu, why don’t you rest first?”